- Title: Turkish police break up protests against Kurdish mayors' arrest
- Date: 26th October 2016
- Summary: DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY (OCTOBER 26, 2016) (REUTERS) POLICE VEHICLES AND PEOPLE ARMOURED POLICE VEHICLE DEPLOYED OUTSIDE CITY HALL VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING THROUGH STREET CO-CHAIR OF PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (HDP), FIGEN YUKSEKDAG, DEMONSTRATING WITH PROTESTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) HDP CO-CHAIR, FIGEN YUKSEKDAG, SAYING: "We are facing an apparent coup and an apparently fascist regime. Turkey is being dragged to a disaster as they insist on a presidential system. Turkey has been dragged into an internal war and into a chaos and the political administration is deepening this conflict step by step." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS WAITING/POLICEMAN WITH GUN WOMAN PUSHING FRONT OF VEHICLE CARRYING WATER CANNON POLICE-IN-PLAIN CLOTHES AND PROTESTERS SCUFFLE/MEDIA FILM AND TAKE PICTURES WATER BEING SPRAYED ON PROTESTERS PROTESTERS BLOCKING THE FRONT OF A VEHICLE VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE PUSHING PROTESTERS OUT OF THE ROAD WITH SHIELDS VARIOUS OF WATER CANNONS SPRAYING ON PROTESTERS MAN HIDING BEHIND LAMPPOST AS HE IS SPRAYED BY WATER CANNON/HE RUNS AWAY VARIOUS OF WATER CANON SPRAYING PROTESTERS MAN SCUFFLES WITH POLICE VARIOUS OF POLICE DETAINING PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 10th November 2016 11:58
- Keywords: Turkey Kurds detentions HPD PKK Gulten Kisanak Firat Anli clashes
- Location: DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY
- City: DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA00155N713B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Turkish police in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Wednesday (October 26) used tear gas and water cannon to scatter protesters. The demonstration follows the arrest of the city's popular joint mayors for alleged links to militants.
Gulten Kisanak, Diyarbakir's first female mayor, and Firat Anli, her co-mayor, were detained late on Tuesday as part of a security crackdown after more than a year of violence in the region.
President Tayyip Erdogan has said the removal of elected officials and civil servants who are accused of links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is integral to Ankara's battle against the armed group.
Kisanak's Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and its larger sister party, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deny these links, saying they are working for a peaceful settlement of the Kurdish issue.
Kisanak is a prominent Kurdish political figure in Turkey and abroad.
Police in Diyarbakir dispersed a crowd of 300 people and detained more than two dozen protesters outside City Hall, a Reuters witness said. A few hours later, a crowd of about 1,000 people had re-formed and included pro-Kurdish parliamentarians.
Witnesses reported widespread Internet outages in Diyarbakir, a city of 1.7 million people.
Ankara appointed new administrators in two dozen Kurdish-run municipalities in September after removing their elected mayors over suspected links to militants. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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